MAYOR Mauricio Domogan announced the approval of Small Town Lottery within 90 days in the city.
Domogan said a meeting with representatives from the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) and the members of the Baguio City Police Office discussed the start of operations of the government approved game of chance awarding a lone operator from the city.
The mayor said the STL operations in the city will be able to remit a 10 percent share to local coffers with an expected P9.3 million income monthly.
Domogan said the BCPO will also receive a share from the operations of STL.
The chief executive said the operation of STL is expected to solve the perennial problem of illegal gambling in the city with the government backed games as the lone sanctioned game.
The fight to end all illegal gambling has been waged by civic organizations in the city as well as peoples groups advocating to abolish even government backed games.
The PCSO has launched the expansion of small-town lottery operations in 56 areas, in a bid to increase revenue and curb illegal gambling.
Prior to the expansion, only 18 areas nationwide have a small-town lottery.
In the local council, a move to call on the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) to shed light on operations of E –Bingo has been made.
Outlets in SM City Baguio and Center Mall are operating with the latest outlet in Maharlika Livelihood Center which has been contested by groups.
Aldermen have likened e-bingo to the illegal numbers game, jueteng which also uses a two-number combination like the Pagcor controlled e-game.
Councilor Maylen Yaranon has moved to end the operations of e-bingo hoping Pagcor will not allow the e-bingo operations to commence in Mahalika which is in contradicting their own provisions.
Under PAGCOR, a gaming site must comply with distance requirements which should not be less than 100 meters from schools, places of worship and markets.
The Maharlika e-bingo is near the United Church of Christ, the Baguio Patriotic High School and the city public market.
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